Use the "USE ME" bins

A usual scene.. is this not?

Is it because we don't have dustbins around us?

Is it because we are uncivilized people?

Is this because we were never taught at schools not to litter?

Did our teachers not scold us when we threw around toffee wrappers or waste paper in the school campus?

Is it because we are just so careless about our surroundings?

Is it because we enjoy to live in a dirty place?

Is this how we keep our houses?

Is this where we are supposed to throw the waste that does not belong in our house?

Is it just another thing to blame the government for like we always do, for mistakes we make?

Is it because we can't set an example by following this?

I myself am very careful to use dustbins to throw waste. I've had people laugh at me for that... Obviously you don't believe that.. here's one incident.


I travel by train everyday to the Institute and back. One such day while returning, I bought myself a bottle of water. Here i must tell you i (and one of my classmates) have managed to make a few friends ( read acquaintances) who travel daily by the same train. 

We had caught our seats and waited for the train to move... there was still more than an hour to go..

Meanwhile all the water in the bottle had finished, i got up went to the platform to find a dustbin to throw the bottle. When i returned and sat down... one of these people asked me where i had gone.. Knowing my (crazy) habit of obsessing about throwing waste in the dustbin.. my classmate told them that i must've gone to throw the bottle. This guy dismissed it with scoff and said "Why din't you just throw it out of the window?"

I said "I don't litter my home..."
He laughed, pulled out a small piece of paper and gave it to me saying "This is waste, throw this too..."I took the crumpled piece of paper and put it in my pocket and said, i'll throw this when i get back home... the dustbins a little far."

He suddenly changed his tone to say.. "Very good.. that's a very good habit".. I said.. "I'm glad you realized at least now." 


No one spoke for long after that.. 

Its a humble request.. Please keep my home clean... 
Don't tell others, don't preach.. but try and do this yourself. Till it becomes a habit. Its not difficult at all.. Just consider the place around you like you consider your home... keep your surroundings clean. The government has set up Dustbins in public places so that people use them. Do all you can to clean the place. Why do you need to be fined to stop littering... Are you agreeing to the fact that you need to be disciplined because you yourself have no sense of it? Are we not grown up enough to understand?

Gandhi Ji said  "The genesis for change is awareness. We cannot change what we don't acknowledge.."

So "Be the change you want to see in the world..." 

Because this is OUR homeland.. 


Evangeline